News category, Page 497

WASHINGTON — A divided Supreme Court on Monday turned down a Christian group’s free-speech challenge to the laws in California and 21 other states that forbid licensed counselors from using “conversion therapy” with children and teenagers. Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. filed dissents, and Justice Brett M....

A Western Pennsylvania lawmaker wants to expand law enforcement’s ability to use a more-detailed form of DNA analysis when identifying victims in cold cases. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters, introduced the Cold Case Modernization Act which would expand the criteria for federal Department of Justice grants funding the use of forensic...

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of Harvard faculty members are urging the Ivy League university to keep its president, Claudine Gay, in command as she faces calls from some lawmakers and donors to step down over comments at a congressional hearing on antisemitism. A petition signed by more than 600 faculty members...

WASHINGTON — The Air Force has disciplined 15 personnel in connection with the massive classified documents leak by an airman earlier this year, concluding that multiple officials intentionally failed to take required action on his suspicious behavior, the Air Force inspector general reported Monday. Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack...

HARRISBURG — Public school advocates in Pennsylvania are criticizing publicly funded programs that help underwrite tuition at private and religious schools, saying many of the eligible schools discriminate by cherry-picking the students they want to teach. Pennsylvania’s Capitol is already gripped by a broader and mostly partisan debate over how...

Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. HARRISBURG — State lawmakers will return to Harrisburg next week in hopes of finally ending nearly six months of partisan deadlock on the last pieces...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is hosting a White House reception Monday evening to mark Hanukkah, celebrating the festival of lights as he has continued to denounce rising antisemitism in the U.S. and abroad amid the Israel-Hamas war. The president, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff will...

WASHINGTON — Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked the Supreme Court to take up and rule quickly on whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he plotted to overturn the 2020 election results. Smith made his request for the court to act with unusual speed to...

CONCORD, N.H. — A New Hampshire man has been accused of sending text messages threatening to kill a presidential candidate ahead of a scheduled campaign event Monday, federal prosecutors said. The U.S. Attorney’s office did not name the candidate. However, a spokesperson for Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said Monday that...

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for two Georgia election workers played audio recordings in a Washington courtroom Monday of graphic and racist threats the two women received after Rudy Giuliani falsely accused them of fraud while pushing Donald Trump’s baseless claims after the 2020 election. The recordings were part of the opening...

DENVER, Colo. — Wildlife officials plan to release gray wolves in Colorado in coming weeks, at the behest of urban voters and to the dismay of rural residents who don’t want the predators but have waning influence in the Democratic-led state. The most ambitious wolf reintroduction effort in the U.S....

KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s capital early Monday destroyed several homes and left more than 100 households without electricity. The predawn attack on Kyiv came amid warnings that Russia will step up its attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure as winter sets in with freezing temperatures....

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden goes into next year’s election with a vexing challenge: Just as the U.S. economy is getting stronger, people are still feeling horrible about it. Pollsters and economists say there has never been as wide a gap between the underlying health of the economy and public...

At a small rural Missouri high school, two English teachers shared a secret: Both were posting adult content on OnlyFans, the subscription-based website known for sexually explicit content. The site and others like it provide an opportunity for those willing to dabble in pornography to earn extra money — sometimes...

F.E. WARREN AIR FORCE BASE, Wyo. — The control stations for America’s nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles have a sort of 1980s retro look, with computing panels in sea foam green, bad lighting and chunky control switches. Those underground capsules are about to be demolished and the missile silos they control...

LUKEVILLE, Ariz. — Gerston Miranda and his wife were among thousands of migrants recently arriving at this remote area on Arizona’s southern border with Mexico, squeezing into the United States through a gap in the wall and walking overnight about 14 miles (23 kilometers) with two school-aged daughters to surrender...

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces battled Palestinian militants in Gaza’s two largest cities on Monday, with civilians still trapped in the fighting even after hundreds of thousands have fled to other parts of the besieged territory. Israel has pledged to keep fighting until it removes Hamas from power, dismantles...

NEW YORK — Donald Trump said Sunday he has decided against testifying for a second time at his New York civil fraud trial, posting on social media a day before his scheduled appearance that he “very successfully & conclusively” testified last month and saw no need to do so again....

Elon Musk has restored the X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, pointing to a poll on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that came out in favor of the Infowars host who repeatedly called the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax. It poses new uncertainty for...

NORFOLK, Va. — A former U.S. Navy SEAL who says he shot Osama bin Laden is at the center of a much different fight in Virginia, where plans for a military-themed brewery are drawing opposition over his alleged racist and homophobic remarks. Robert J. O’Neill has a small ownership stake...

Six fire departments worked to put out a blaze that caused significant damage to a Loyalhanna Township home Sunday morning. Emergency personnel were dispatched to the single-story home on Louise Street around 7:35 a.m., said Bill McClelland, assistant fire chief for Saltsburg Volunteer Fire Department. Slickville fire officials arrived first...

Drivers on Sleepy Hollow Road in Penn Township often slow to a stop when they see the concrete sculptures in Mark Milliron’s front yard. Milliron, who has lived on the road for nearly 40 years, has come to expect questions and curiosity about the human-like figures, especially when he is...